Keith Preston: US war against North Korea would have ‘catastrophic consequences’
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A military option by the US against North Korea to resolve the crisis on the Korean Peninsula would have “catastrophic consequences,” says a political analyst in Virginia.

“An attempted invasion by the United States of the Korean Peninsula or the region of North Korea will certainly generate huge numbers of casualties on both sides,” said Keith Preston, chief editor of AttacktheSystem.com.

“It could potentially lead to the use of weapons of mass destruction as well,” Preston told Press TV in a phone interview on Thursday.

“It’s also possible that a war of that type could escalate; that the Chinese and the Russians for example, could come to the defense of North Korea,” he added.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has warned the US against its “aggressive rhetoric” towards North Korea.

During a Tuesday phone call with US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, Lavrov stressed that Washington’s actions have heightened tension on the Korean peninsula.

Russian Ambassador-at-Large Oleg Burmistrov said on Thursday that there is a growing danger of sliding toward an unprovoked conflict on the Korean Peninsula amid an unprecedented level of tension in the region.

On Monday, the US sanctioned two senior North Korean officials over the country’s ballistic missile program.

Tensions have been boiling on the Korean peninsula since early summer when Pyongyang test-fired two intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBM) and then carried out its sixth and most powerful nuclear test.

Defying rounds of United Nations economic sanctions, the North tested a new ICBM, the Hwasong-15, nearly a month ago.

Experts say North Korea has virtually mastered the capability to use the ICBMs with nuclear warheads in potential attacks that could target the entire United States, South Korea’s closest ally in countering the North.

Many also fear that increased pressure on North Korea and bellicose threats of war against the isolated nation from Washington could finally spark a nuclear confrontation in the region. Pyongyang harshly reacted to a recent round of sanctions adopted Friday over the test-firing of Hwasong-15, and called them an act of war.